Researchers and developers from Carnegie Mellon have recently created the IoT Assistant: an app that is designed to scan IoT devices and give you a report on how much these devices are “spying” on you.

Those can include digital assistants, smart TVs, and other smart home gadgets. After a quick scan, the app can tell users what the IoT device is for. If possible, users will also have the ability to opt-out of data collection. The IoT assistant app also has a special database that is designed to give users an understanding of their device.

The IoT assistant app creators sought to expand user transparency about IoTs so that user privacy is maintained and safe.

Spying Is More Dangerous Than You Might Think

Many people are after someone’s privacy and when it comes to spying, we’re mostly concerned about revealing our most intimate secrets at a glance. However, things can escalate quickly in today’s world, leading to larger-scale issues regarding our privacy. Here’s an example…

In October 2016, a hacker found a vulnerability in a specific model of security cameras. Nearly 300,000 IoT video recorders were hacked. They started to attack multiple social network platforms and even brought down Twitter and other high-profile network websites, for almost two hours.

If it’s not only about video cameras, but anything with an internet connection, from smart locks, thermostats, light bulbs, smart toys, and refrigerators. Using them always poses IoT security risks and challenges that must be overcome.

IoT Security Challenges

It’s not only us with our computers. There are also “things’ that can easily interact with the Internet without human intervention. These are continually communicating with the Internet – our vehicles are transmitting messages to the mechanics for oil levels, smart fridges are sending updates of the food inside, and much more.

IoT is wonderful in many ways. However, technology has not matured yet, and it’s not 100% safe. The entire IoT environment, from users to manufacturers, still has many security challenges that IoT has to overcome, such as:

• Update management
• Manufacturing standards
• User knowledge and awareness
• Physical hardening

Top IoT security risks may include lack of compliance on the part of IoT manufacturers, lack of user awareness & knowledge, IoT security issues in device update management, lack of physical hardening, and last, but not least – BotNet attacks.

If you make the most of your resources and have some creativity, you could make a costume that’s subtle yet effective. Here are some last-minute Halloween costumes that are really easy to make!

They say beauty is in the simplicity and this costume typifies that idea. Blogger Studio DIY was tired of pineapples and wanted to create a cactus costume instead. To create the prickly effect, you simply need to cut some white string into small pieces and sew each piece onto your green dress. If you want to get extra fancy, you can give your cactus a “flower” by creating some red and yellow pom poms out of string and sticking them to a headband.

While Aww Sam’s Halloween costume might take a few more hours to make than some of the others on this list, it’s definitely worth it. You will need to purchase some inflatable donuts to put in your donut box. Then of course, you need to make the box, which needs to be big enough for you to cut a hole in the middle which you can easily get in and out of. Print the Dunkin’ Donuts logo and stick some white straps onto the box and you’re good to go!

You’d think that trying to dress up as Arthur would be a daunting task. However, YouTube personality LaurDIY found an ingenious way to look like the animated aardvark in no time whatsoever. The only distinctive features you need to complete the transformation is some cheap, round glasses, and a headband. Cut some brown and pink fabric to resemble Arthur’s ears, then use hot glue to stick them onto the headband. It’s like you’re jumping out of the TV!

Sarah and Nick are huge pasta fans, so they decided to dress up as one of their favorite meals when Halloween came around: spaghetti and parmesan cheese. According to their tutorial, all they needed was a green and red shirt, a colander, some string, plastic forks, and a few other materials. For the spaghetti, Nick hot glued his “meatballs,” made from brown pom poms, onto his sweatshirt. As for the parmesan, Sarah simply ironed a logo onto her shirt! Presto!

Blogger Julia made a last-minute Halloween costume that helped her look just like her favorite singer Sia! Of course, the most important feature she needed to transform into the Aussie pop star is the classic two-toned wig that covers the eyes. Wack on a white jacket and a black dress. Then, create your own giant bow out of black, shiny fabric and wrap it onto a black headband. All that is left is some red lipstick. Talk about “cheap thrills!”

Unlike most of the other last-minute Halloween costumes on this list, this one is primarily makeup-based. On the plus side though, it means you can pretty much wear whatever you want. For the polka-dot effect, use some cheap white Halloween makeup. Then, for the outline effect, use a black waterproof eyeliner pen. You can customize the pop art makeup as you please, but those are definitely the two most important features to make you look like an Andy Warhol masterpiece.

Newlywed blogger Jessica thought it would be funny to make her and her husband look like an old married couple since they just returned from their honeymoon in time for Halloween. It seems like they didn’t need to create much for the costume. They already had night-gowns, coffee mugs, and reading glasses (just kidding, they were made out of wire). Jessica needed to buy some curlers to put in her hair, which she sprayed with some grey hair-paint.

Ever since James Corden took the world by storm with the hilarious Carpool Karaoke segment on his show, it seems like millions of people have tried to make their own renditions with their favorite songs. One couple was so into Carpool Karaoke that they made a costume out of the idea. They made a piece of card look like the front of a car and they pulled out an old boombox and microphone from their attic. Pretty simple!

This is, without a doubt, the most understated costume on this list, because it’s literally just a t-shirt with some writing on it. However, there is no denying that it’s funny. Most people can relate to that annoying sight when you try to connect to a website and the haunting words “Error 404” pop up on your screen. Simply put velcro letters on your white t-shirt or iron some on yourself. You could even write out the message with some font stencils.

For those of you out there worried that it’s going to rain on Halloween, this might be the costume for you. Blogger Studio DIY came up with an “It’s Raining Men” costume, which sees some of her most beloved men “raining” from her umbrella. Obviously, the first thing you will need is to have an umbrella ready to use. Secondly, print out faces of your favorite man-crushes, cut them accordingly and then connect them to the umbrella by string!

Another appropriate costume for Halloween has to be a bat. However, if you haven’t got time to buy yourself some black wings for your costume, then here’s a neat little alternative. Take an old black umbrella that you have no use for anymore, cut it into thirds and use two of them as the wings. Stick them to a black hoodie and voila, you are now a bat. You can also make some ears out of black card and stick them to a headband.

As long as you have a pair of black suits locked away somewhere, along with some shades, you are well on your way to becoming the Men In Black for your Halloween party. It also helps if you have a pug. Remember Frank the Pug? He’s the breakout character from that movie! In all seriousness though, if you do have a dog, make sure to, at the very least, buy him a small tie to accompany your costumes.

Here are some other young ladies who decided to go down the feline route for their last-minute Halloween preparations. Just like Pixie Lott, they opened up their makeup kits and got creative. In the end, one of the friends transformed into a tigress, while the other became a leopard. Truth be told, the leopard lady needed to go to the costume store on the way to her party to buy the ears. They just about made it to their party!

Whoever thought that a pack of cards could be the basis for a successful Halloween costume? This is surely one of the easiest costumes of them all! The most important part is undoubtedly the royal collar made out of cards. Simply stick them together with super glue and make sure it fits just enough so that it doesn’t suffocate you. Also, put some gold wire together into the shape of a crown and you’ve got yourself a neat little royal hair tie!

Believe it or not, but pop star Pixie Lott had no idea what she was going to wear to her Halloween party just hours before it was about to start! She was feeling extremely agitated at her lack of creativity. In the end, she used that anger and anxiety as the inspiration for her costume – to become a female tiger. The key to her last-minute outfit was through the power of makeup, her black dress and some well-crafted ears she stuck onto a headband.

Undoubtedly one of the most iconic paintings in American folklore, American Gothic is a great costume to wear for Halloween, specifically because you can wear whatever you want for the occasion! What you do need though is to print the iconic painting onto either a blank canvas or piece of card. Then, you have to cut a hole where the face is of either the husband with the pitchfork or the wife giving him the evil stare. Heck, you could even go as a couple.

Some costume ideas can be taken a little too literally and this young lady blew the term “breadwinner” completely out of proportion. If you want to turn up to your Halloween party as a silly pun, then look no further. Simply put on some cheap medals and a headband to make you look like an Olympic champion and buy some loaves of bread. Everyone will love you, especially because they’ll steal the bread to soak up their Halloween potions…

“…On the seashore!” You know the classic tongue twister. It’s a line that many kids learn during illocution lessons. However, did anyone ever picture what they might actually look like? A woman selling seashells on the seashore? This woman rolled with the idea, collecting some seashells from the beach and sticking them to the inside of her jacket. It now makes her look like a sketchy shell dealer and before you know it, her friends will collectively say: “Ahhh, I get it.”

This might be one of the most pun-tastic costumes on the entire list! Sure Beyonce’s fine and Bee’s are OK when they are not trying to sting you. But what happens when you combine the two? That’s right, folks – Bee-Yonce! It’s a pretty awesome idea. As long as the person wearing it has fairly light hair and has a little bit of time to cut out the letters that spell “Yonce,” they are well on their way to creating the ultimate costume mashup!

This is one of those combo costumes that is simple and to the point! The most important part of this costume is the bee crown, which requires a headband, some scissor work on some gold card, and making the bumble antennas out of yellow pom-poms and wire. If you have a black and yellow stripe sweatshirt of some kind, then even better. One thing’s for sure, this easy-to-make costume will make you the person everyone is buzzing about!

There is a “safe for work” way to wear a Halloween costume based on the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey. The key is to find an interior design brochure full of color samples, cut out all of the shades of grey and stick in a random display on the front of the t-shirt of your choosing. In an ideal world, the t-shirt should either be white, grey or black to really hit home the message.

This is pretty much as simple as it gets. While this young lady printed a generic hot sauce sign from Evite, we don’t see any harm in going all the way and printing a legitimate McIlhenney’s Tabasco logo for your costume. Simply print the logo, cut some green paper to create the logo border and bottle top (hat), and stick the logo onto the border. Then, stick the logo onto a red dress. That’s kind of important people, you need a red dress to make this work.

This costume is a three-person job, but the end results are mouth-watering to say the very least! As long as you have a beige dress for the hot dog bun, and red and yellow dresses for ketchup and mustard respectively, the finishing touches shouldn’t take too long, at all…

Move over Supergirl, Batgirl’s on her way to steal your thunder! This woman happened to be a motorbike enthusiast and had her own tight suit whenever she wanted to go out for a spin. As a result, she took it and had the bat emblem printed onto it just for a Halloween party. Despite this, she wasn’t interested in covering her face with a traditional Bat mask. And do you blame her? She knew that the logo would be enough.

Everyone’s always raving about Superman and how he is the most important character in the DC universe. But what about Supergirl? She simply doesn’t get the same sort of credit that Clark Kent gets. Nevertheless, we firmly believe that more women out there should put Wonder Woman costumes to one side and make Supergirl their own. You can either make your own “S” logo and superglue it onto your blue top. Or, run to the fancy dress store on the way to your party!

This is arguably the simplest costume on this list! All you need is three items to make it look like you’re having a bubble bath in front of all of your friends. Simply wear a shower cap, hold onto a shower sponge and inflate a dozen white balloons before sticking them on a white T-shirt. This is one of those costumes that is extremely easy to make and it blatantly looks like what it’s trying to be. Winning!

It’s a question that many couples have probably asked themselves. “If we dress up as Netflix and Chill for Halloween, what would that look like?” Well, one blogger seemed to go with the easy answer: one T-shirt is red and has the Netflix logo, while another is white with the word “Chill” printed on it. To hit home the chill factor of this couple’s costume, cut out some snowflake shapes with some silver card and stick them onto a headband.

Not only does it help to find something easy to make for your Halloween costume in the eleventh hour, but it also helps if it’s relevant to the theme of the festival: something spooky! You can’t go wrong with a skeleton costume. However, if you are pressed for time, you can make one of your own. Simply cut holes into a white t-shirt and hang it over a black tank top. Voila, you have the skeleton illusion! A little bit of black and white face paint also helps.

Why have one message planted on your Halloween costume when you can change it at any time during the night? With these velcro letters, you can rearrange them whenever you feel like it to say whatever you want! The key is to stick velcro onto black letters with hot glue and then stick a few lines of velcro on the front of your costume. It’s good to have at least a handful of lines to evenly distribute your words of choice.

A blessing in disguise usually implies that a good thing might not be so obviously good upon first glance. So a costume that typifies this idea is actually a pretty neat solution to your last-minute Halloween woes. Obviously, the key ingredient to this concept is a cape, to make you look like some sort of superhero hiding in plain sight. Some tissue paper should do the job. Of course, it also helps to have the word “blessing” printed onto a t-shirt.